Pumpkin Pie!

We only got 2 months left... is that the weirdest thing or what? The weeks are going by so fast it makes me a little dizzy. I can`t lie, it`s a bittersweet feeling knowing the mission comes to an end one day. SO HAPPY to hear that Nana is going to be there when I go home. Honestly I love being with the old grandmas here, but sometimes it breaks my heart and I literally start to tear up because I want to be with my Nana! Ah! She means the world to me! I also think about my Oma a lot a lot. How grateful I am for wonderful grandmothers. Not to mention Grandma Middleton as well. We only knew each other for a short time, but the love she showed for us was eternal. 

Played piano again for church this week and am amazed in how I have been able to develop my talents. It is so cool! I am excited to come home and play! I miss our old, out of tune, piano. 

Let`s see. My thankfuls. 
I have so many! 

1. pumpkin pie! One of the hermanas has a daughter in Arizona that she went to go visit and she brought us back pumpkin pie. It tasted soooo good! Only a super tiny piece but it was delicious! 

2. the members of barrio Reforma! We are so so blessed here. The members want to work and they do it well. We have 8 lessons with members present this week and 19 references from members! They walked hours with us in the street going to visit their friends. THAT IS HOW THE WORK IS DONE! Look to ways to help the missionaries of our ward. Never give up. Pray with real intent for names. If not, try inviting neighbors to FHE. Do something new that you haven`t done before to look for people God has put in your path! We can`t ever give up! 

3. Los hermanitos. We are working with kids and preparing them to be baptized. It is super HARD and super FUN: requires a lot of patience but it is so worth it. They come from two different families. JR is 10, his uncle is a recent convert. JR doesn`t have a mom in his life. He is immature, and really dear. He wants to be baptized SO MUCH that when he isn`t behaving in the lesson, we can say, J, do you want to be baptized? Yes! They pay attention! Haha. There isn`t very many investigators we can do that to. The other we call Apostle, because he has the name of one the apostles. He is very mature, very calm, does his homework we give him. He only has a mother (Menos activa, but they came to church this sunday!). It goes to show WHAT A BIG DIFFERENCE the mothers make in our lives. Which brings me to number 4

4. You and Dad. You guys are huge blessings in my life. I am so blessed to KNOW my parents, to be able to talk to both of you and trust both of you. Maybe the situation of having divorced parents isn`t ideal, but being here has taught be to LOVE both of you so much and recognize that you LOVE ME! And you both sacrifice and worry for me. That is a great blessing. 

5. The Gathering of Israel. In Gospel Principles, we learned about the gathering of Israel (something I need to study more, I didn`t know hardly anything!) and we watched a cool video that started with Parley P Pratt and the missionaries of the olden times, and then it started to show missionaries today and I had the coolest feeling come to me that I am helping God gather His children and this work is so much bigger than it seems! It means everything to our God. Even the smallest part counts. You are doing great! Keep putting in your part to bring EVERY CHILD home. 

Today we went with newly baptized Hna L and she taught us to make lots of mexican food! I am so excited to come home and try it out with you. I have lots of recipies! WE ARE SO BLESSED TO HAVE FIESTA foods! and also, I am bilingual! how cool is that? So blessed! 

Hna S (from Consti) came to visit me again this week! She told me she LOVED the temple and she wants to go back. I was so proud to see that she is learning... she brought coloring books for her girls and snacks so they wouldn`t run crazy like normal during sacrament meeting. She is faithful and strong! I am so proud of her! 

This work is amazing. I love being a missionary!

Hermana Burton